


Hope of Silence

by Chichirinoda



Series: Collared Visions Arc [1]
Category: Homestuck
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-06-18
Updated: 2011-06-18
Packaged: 2017-10-20 12:41:04
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,866
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/212872
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chichirinoda/pseuds/Chichirinoda
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>An AU in which Eridan has a slightly different plan to keep Sollux and Feferi apart and get himself a filled quadrant of his own. He gives Sollux a collar that blocks voices and visions, but uses this to coerce Sollux into a quadrant.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hope of Silence

**Author's Note:**

> Written for kink_bingo for the prompt "Humiliation (situational)".

Whoever thought lying on a horn pile was a good idea had to be either a complete moron or completely insane. The edges of the bells dug into his skin, and every time he moved the horns murmured and complained distractingly. On the other hand, Sollux had to admit that considering he freely chose to lie on them in the first place, he couldn't really throw stones at Gamzee for making the pile.

There were advantages, at least. Half the time when he shifted, he brushed against Feferi's shoulder, or her leg. It wasn't really intentional, but every fleeting touch sent a little flushed shiver through him.

He wasn't sure just where this conversation was going - after all, they had spent nearly all of the time talking about their own previous relationships, which wasn't exactly setting the mood for a new relationship of their own. Even more importantly, she was a princess, even if there was no galaxy for her to rule over anymore. She was so ridiculously out of his league, it wasn't even funny.

Still, he could enjoy this while it lasted.

His attention was pulled reluctantly away from the girl chattering cheerfully into his ear about cuttlefish by the sight of Kanaya whirling away from her computer with a large, funny-shaped object clutched in her arms. It looked like a big knobby sea urchin, and Sollux turned to ask Feferi if she knew what kind of sea creature it was, and why Kanaya would have one. But then a thud and a cry distracted him.

He groaned. "Oh fuck...look whothe come to thpoil the party."

Eridan had just transportalized in, and he strode purposefully over to them, cape swirling around his feet and a white stick clutched in his hand. He didn't seem to notice that he'd just bowled Kanaya over, who pushed herself to her feet and moved to gather up the object she'd been carrying, smoothing her skirt and looking extremely put out.

Sollux tensed warily as Eridan walked up and stood before them, his eyes narrowed behind his stupid hipster glasses. They had been fighting ever since the game started, and Eridan was very obviously trying to inspire some kind of caliginous rivalry between them, but Sollux had kicked his ass every time. He had been hoping the royal asshole had given up, but it didn't look like it right now.

"I wwant to talk to you, scum," Eridan said, pointing his stupid white stick at Sollux.

"Then talk," Sollux said, rolling his eyes and settling back against the horn pile a little. He tried to seem relaxed, but he was eyeing that glowing stick warily. Was it some kind of weapon?

Feferi sat up a bit and looked to be listening. "You don't have to be so rude, Eridan," she said, folding her arms.

Something flickered in Eridan's eyes, a pained look that was quickly banished. He looked for a moment like he might be about to protest, maybe even plead with Feferi, but when he opened his mouth he looked as annoyed as before. "I don't see wwhy I should be polite to someone wwhose blood is practically the complimentary fuckin' colour to mine," he sneered.

And then, with a little desperation, he added, "Anywway, wwe're ovver, Fef. Sorry, I don't gotta sucker up to you, anymore. You broke my heart, but I'vve movved right the fuck on."

He wiggled the stick again. "And...and I wwasn't talkin' to you, anywway. I wwanna talk to _you_ , Sol. Alone. So come on."

Sollux considered being difficult. And decided that was a really good idea. "What's that thtupid thing you're waving around, printhe of lame?"

Eridan grimaced, baring his teeth. "It happens to be a wwand. An object of such powwer that I no longer need to bother with my other wweapons. And I'll use it on you right noww if you don't get the fuck goin'! I'vve got somethin' I think you'll wwant to see. Okay?"

Sollux blinked. That sounded like a threat, and it made him want to just challenge this dipstick to another duel right now, but Feferi was looking at them both with concern, and he had to admit he was curious about what Eridan might want him to see.

Maybe this was all some elaborate trick to get him away from Feferi for a little while, or to get him alone so no one would see his inevitable defeat _again_ , but Sollux decided he was willing to indulge him. At least it wasn't more ridiculous carp, like trying to get Feferi to auspiticize between them. Not if Eridan wanted him alone.

He glanced at Feferi, who shrugged helplessly, then he got to his feet. "Sure, I'll come along. Thinthe you athked tho nithely."

"You don't knoww the half of howw nice I'm bein'," Eridan snorted and turned away. Kanaya was still watching them, clutching the round object to her chest, as Eridan walked up to the transportalizer and vanished. Sollux met her eyes and smiled wryly, gave Karkat a wave, and followed.

Eridan was waiting for him next to the transportalizer pad when he rematerialized. The taller troll grabbed him by the arm before he'd reoriented himself, and started off, practically dragging Sollux along.

"H-hey! Let go!" Sollux exclaimed, trying to wrench his arm out of Eridan's surprisingly strong grip.

"Shut up," Eridan hissed, whirled, and pressed the point of his wand under Sollux' chin. "You'vve got to learn your place, filth."

Sollux swallowed, glaring at the other troll. At this range, even if that stupid stick was practically a toy - which it probably was, right? - there was no way he could blast the fuck out of Eridan before his head would be vaporized. After a few seconds in which a battle of wills raged between them, Eridan turned and resumed dragging Sollux along purposefully.

 _Shit, shit,_ he thought as he stumbled along after the longer-legged troll. _What the hell is he doing?_

"If thith ith your idea of black-flirting..." he began, questing out with his senses, searching for someone nearby. Where was Gamzee? Or Terezi? Or Equius and Nepeta? If he could yell loudly enough, would one of them hear?

Did he really need to get rescued from this idiot?

Eridan didn't respond, and they soon reached the end of the hall, a large round chamber with twelve personalized transportalizers. Sollux swore and dug in his heels, but Eridan yanked him onto the Aquarius transportalizer and with a wrenching in his stomach, Sollux found himself in the other troll's private chamber, where no one else could follow.

The room didn't have much to it other than a few pieces of furniture and a deep-looking pool of water that dominated one corner. But as Eridan dragged him towards a desk and chair at the far end of the room, Sollux saw down a side passage into a room filed with equipment. He spotted a lathe and an alchemiter, and Sollux stared at the equipment in surprise before it slid from view.

"You've got the whole thet of THGRUB equipment in here?" he demanded. "With a card punch and all that?"

"I do," Eridan said, and there was a weirdly smug tone to his voice. "I'vve been experimentin'. You knoww wwith science you can make just about anythin'."

Suddenly Sollux was released, and he nearly stumbled, rubbing his arm and glaring up at the taller troll, who pointed the wand at the chair. "Sit dowwn."

"Fuck you," Sollux replied, whirling around to go back the way he'd come.

"You can't get outta here wwithout me," Eridan said. "So sit the fuck dowwn."

Sollux' heart was racing with fear and anger, and he turned back to Eridan. "I could kill you and uthe your body to get mythelf out."

Eridan snorted. "Come on, Sol," he sneered. "Evven if ya could do it wwith me armed wwith this, do you really knoww for sure if the transportalizer wwill respond to my corpse?" His expression shifted and he frowned with frustration. "Really, you're bein' a wwriggler. I'm tryin' to do somethin' nice for you, and you're just treating me like I'm tryin' to kill you."

"Thorry if I don't take kindly to people acting like athholeth and dragging me around," Sollux growled. "Ath if I believe you're doing thomething nithe, anyway. Why would you be nithe to me?"

"I just am," Eridan said unconvincingly, folding his arms and tapping his wand against his upper arm impatiently. It emitted sparks with each tap.

They glared at each other for a few long minutes before Sollux sighed and shrugged. "Fine," he muttered and walked back towards Eridan. He threw himself into the chair, which made him even shorter next to the lanky troll, and therefore irritated him. "What are you trying to show me?"

"This," Eridan said, and for the first time a note of excitement came into his voice. He picked up a small box from the desk and opened it.

Curious, Sollux leaned forward, and saw a slender hinged circlet of metal sitting inside the box. Eridan picked it up and offered it to him with delicate clawed fingers, opening the latch so that the ring split open into two curved halves. "Try it on and wwe'll see if it wworks."

Sollux stared at it, then at Eridan. "What ith it thuppothed to be?"

"It's a collar," Eridan said.

The smaller troll recoiled. "Why the fuck would I--"

"It's a _collar_ ," Eridan overrode him impatiently. "Wwhich should block the vvoices for you."

Sollux opened his mouth and closed it a few times. Without consciously deciding to, he reached out greedily and took the collar. He held it up, noting a few odd patterns of what looked almost like gemstones melded with circuitry on the inner curve. He made to put it on, then balked. What if it didn't do what Eridan claimed at all? What if this were just some kind of weird practical joke, or it would cut off all of his powers completely, leaving him at the other troll's mercy?

"Look it's not that fuckin' complicated," Eridan said, reaching for him. "You just put it around--"

"Back off!" Sollux snarled, scooting the chair back a few inches. The two boys glared at each other for a few moments, then Sollux dropped his eyes and took a deep breath. Then he fastened the thing around his neck.

It settled there, cold and unyielding, but not uncomfortable, and Sollux let out a shocked cry as the soft, incessant murmur of screams and the agony of millions on the brink of death vanished from his mind as if he had flipped a switch. He held his head in his hands, shaking with reaction at the sudden relief, and _listened_ , but they were gone.

They were completely. Fucking. Gone.

A gentle hand settled on the back of his head, petting his hair as he sobbed with relief. Then suddenly Eridan's fingers curled cruelly in his hair and jerked his head up.

Sollux met his eyes, too stunned and still too overwhelmed to struggle. "Guess it wworked," Eridan said, his lips curved upwards in a self-satisfied smile. "Guess you're pretty grateful to me, noww, huh? I'm not lookin' so much like a loser noww."

He batted at the cruel hand. "Yeah, yeah, okay. I'm thorry I thaid you were a lother, ED--"

"Right," Eridan said, his smile widening. He released Sollux and took a step back, then held up his other hand, displaying a ring on his finger that Sollux didn't remember him wearing before. Oddly, it seemed to match the collar, and Sollux touched the circlet of metal around his neck in confusion. "You see this?" Eridan asked.

"What'th that?"

"It's the twwin to wwhat you're wwearin', you might say," Eridan said. He touched the central gem on the ring and gave it a twist.

Suddenly the screams of the imminently dead exploded into Sollux' mind once again. A vision overwhelmed him, of Nepeta being savagely beaten, green blood spattered over the floor, and a grinning Subjugglator standing over her, laughing as he--

The vision vanished, the screams were silenced, and Sollux realized he was on the floor in front of the chair, curled into a ball and sobbing into his knees. His throat was raw from screaming, and he swallowed as he uncurled, pushing himself up shakily.

Eridan was there, down on one knee in front of him, and caught Sollux' chin. "You get me?" he asked, his teeth bared in a terrible smile.

Sollux sniffled, wiping away yellow-tinged tears. "I hate you," he hissed softly, but there wasn't much force behind it.

"Yeah, you just go ahead and nurse that hatred," Eridan said smugly. "We'vve got ourselves a nice kismesitude noww. The proper kind a kismesitude to havve betwween royalty and a dirty blooded commoner wwho's too stubborn to knoww his place."

"I'll _kill_ you," Sollux snarled, feeling energy starting to crackle along his skin. All this to force him into a caliginous relationship? The last thing he wanted to do with Eridan right now was to fill a pail, even if he did loathe him with every fibre of his body.

Shockingly, Eridan didn't bat an eye. "Uh uh," he said. "You kill me, and my present'll stop wworking. I guaran-fuckin'-tee it. So calm the fuck dowwn and listen to my terms, if you knoww wwhat's good for ya."

Sollux focused every particle of his bifurcated brain at that smirking mouth, intending to blast it right out of existence, but Eridan's words made him pause. He hesitated, then let the psionic power fade. "Termth?" he asked. Eridan might be an asshole, but he _had_ created something that made Sollux' quality of life about a million times better. Maybe he could deal with whatever stupid thing he wanted in return, and move on.

Eridan nodded and got to his feet. Sollux didn't want to be sitting on the floor with Eridan towering over him, so he scrambled quickly up as well, though he had to grab onto the chair to steady himself. His mind was still reeling from the overload, and he was feeling a bit dizzy. Eridan just watched him.

"It's nothin' that'll be too hard to understand, evven for someone like you," Eridan said. "You just keep me happy, and I wwon't take my present awway." He tapped his ring significantly with a claw, and Sollux flinched, bracing himself for an onslaught that didn't come.

Yet.

He had a sinking feeling in his gut right now, and he clenched his fingers around the metal chair tightly. "Tho what you're thaying ith, if I pith you off, you'll turn thith thing off."

"That's part of it," Eridan said. "I might wwant you to do somethin' for me from time to time, a course. You'll be sure to keep me happy an' satisfied, and I'll keep bein' nice to you, too."

"Oh gog," Sollux said, and swallowed as his gorge rose. "You can't be fucking theriouth."

"I'm fuckin' serious," Eridan said, all good humour dropping from his expression as he took hold of the jewel on the ring. "Maybe I should showw you how serious I am right the fuck noww."

"No," Sollux said, recoiling nervously and staring at the ring as if it might bite him. "I...I get it, okay. Fine. I'll be nithe if that'th what you want."

"Yeah. Good." Eridan was beginning to smile again.

Was there a touch of uncertainty in the other troll's expression? Sollux really hoped so, because if Eridan had really masterminded this and was totally comfortable with it, he was a lot more evil than Sollux had ever thought. This had to be some kind of surreal nightmare, and after everything that happened to them, that was saying something. But if Eridan were having second thoughts, even a little, Sollux could use that.

He could deal with this.

He could.

"Wwe'll go back upstairs in a bit, so you can showw off my magnanimous fuckin' gift," Eridan said, and Sollux nearly swallowed his tongues.

"What do you mean 'show off'?" Sollux could hear his own strangled tone.

The taller troll stepped closer, and it was an effort for Sollux not to retreat. He stood his ground stubbornly, but he couldn't help stiffening and recoiling as Eridan reached for him. It didn't do much good, though, and Eridan grabbed him by the back of his neck, claws digging into the sensitive skin, and forcing his head down. The collar seemed to tighten on his windpipe.

"Wwhen I tell ya to do somethin', you say 'yes, sir', or some kind a thing like that."

"Oh gog," Sollux whimpered. "Don't do thith, ED. Not in front of everybody..."

Eridan leaned in close and bit his ear lightly. The other troll's breath shivered over his earlobe and then sharp teeth dug in, not quite hard enough to draw blood. Sollux flinched and his breath hitched in his throat as tingles ran down his spine. How the hell did Eridan get so good at _that_?

"I kinda like the beggin'," Eridan murmured. "Look, this is all you gotta do in public, is wwalk wwith me and like hang out a little. When Fef asks you wwhat givves, you tell her I made you this right nice gift, and how you'vve decided I'm not so fuckin' bad after all. And that's it."

Yeah, he could see where this was going. Despite his fear and humiliation, Sollux rolled his eyes. "So you did all thith jutht tho I could get you back in with your girlfriend," he said. And then, quickly, "Fine, fine, I'll do it."

"Not just because a that," Eridan said, his grip loosening and permitting Sollux to straighten up. "Noww wwhy don't ya strip off those fuckin' clothes."

"What?" With the force of a hammer, the panic was back in full force. Sollux wanted to back away, but the chair was in the way, and oh gog, what the hell was Eridan thinking? "Uh, no, you really don't want me to do that, I think--"

"Don't tell me wwhat I don't wwant!" Eridan snapped. "Do it."

The two trolls glared at each other. Eridan put a hand on his ring. Sollux grabbed for the hem of his shirt. "Okay, okay," he stammered, and averted his gaze as he began to strip. "Jutht don't thay I didn't warn you."

He dumped his shirt on the floor, then toed out of his shoes, then took off his glasses, and his socks. He could feel Eridan's eyes at him, and he hated himself for the way he kept staring shamefacedly at the floor, for the way he knew his cheeks were turning that sickly yellow as they burned hotter and hotter. This was the worst thing that had ever happened to him.

Though, a voice whispered in the back of his mind, if he wanted out of it all he needed to do was take that collar off. But he knew he wasn't going to do that. Not even to escape the humiliation that was about to come.

Eridan didn't rush him, that was the weird thing. He just stood there and watched, his arms folded. He looked like he was fiddling with his scarf or something, but Sollux couldn't really see. He couldn't bring his eyes up that high.

When he'd delayed as long as he could, he finally opened his pants and stripped them off. He heard the soft gasp and wanted to fold into a ball and disappear.

"You're fuckin' lucky you weren't culled," Eridan said. The words burned into Sollux' skin like fire, but there was a breathless quality to them that brought his eyes unwillingly up to look at the other troll. Eridan was a little purple in the face, and looking at him wide-eyed.

Sollux was sure the look in his eyes was disgust. It had to be disgust.

"Can I put my clotheth back on?" he grated, trying to cover himself with his hands and knowing the damage had already been done. "Now that you thee what kind of freak you wanted to fuck?"

There was a short pause, then Eridan huffed. "Wwhen I wwant you to do somethin', I'll fuckin' tell you, wworm." He unwound his scarf from around his neck, and unfastened his cape, while Sollux looked on in humiliated confusion, starting to shiver from a draft of air coming from an overhead vent. What the hell was he planning to do?

Eridan didn't strip his clothes off completely. Divested of the cape and scarf, he gestured to Sollux. "Come wwith me."

Sollux balked, staring at the offered hand. They weren't going _outside_ were they? "I...I'm not...I won't--"

Eridan growled and lunged forward, grabbing Sollux' hand. The smaller troll yelled and fought, and Eridan punched him hard in the face.

Sollux' head snapped around and he sagged a little, his head ringing and tasting blood from where one of Eridan's rings had torn into his upper lip. He was being picked up, and he whimpered, curling up in Eridan's arms and scrabbling at his chest desperately. "Don't, don't make me go out there like thith. Pleathe don't--"

Eridan dropped him. His naked body hit water with a shock and it closed around him like a smothering fist. He flailed ineffectually, and sank like a stone, water covering his face as he struggled to figure out which way was up, trying to hold his breath and find the surface, but he'd never so much as visited the ocean in his life, let alone learned to swim.

 _Oh gog, I'm going to die,_ he thought with strange clarity. _The idiot's killed me._

Just as his lungs threatened to give out, force him to let out the half-breath of stale air he had been holding, and drag in a lungful of killing liquid, warm arms wrapped around him. Eridan kicked once, twice, and Sollux' head broke the water. He coughed and sputtered, clinging to Eridan like a lifeline and shuddering helplessly.

"Wwhat the fuck is wwrong wwith you?" Eridan snapped. "Wwhy'd you just fuckin'-- wwhy wwouldn't you swwim?!"

"I...I can't," Sollux managed through gasping breaths. "I can't thwim." He looked around wildly. They were in the pool in the corner of Eridan's room, and it was at least ten metres to the edge from where they were, close to the place where the walls joined. There were no handholds in the slick, smooth metal wall, and there was no way in hell he would be able to flail his way to the edge without drowning, even if he hadn't had to fight Eridan all the way there.

"Really?" Eridan asked, his tone startled, as if he had never considered this possibility. His arms were cinched tight around Sollux waist, and he loosened them. In a panic, Sollux clung harder, wrapping his legs around the aquatic troll.

"Can we go back to dry land now, pleathe?"

Eridan grinned. "No wway." He seemed able to tread water and float effortlessly in the water without sinking. Sollux could feel something shifting just above his thighs, under Eridan's shirt. His gills?

Sollux' breathing was starting to calm, but his apprehension was only growing. What did Eridan intend to do? Now that he knew Sollux couldn't swim, and was completely dependent upon him until he chose to take him to shore, what now?

Eridan's hand dropped down and slid between his thighs, and Sollux stiffened with a soft gasp. Two fingers slid into his nook - which was actually divided in two with a thin wall of sensitive tissue between the passages. Eridan rubbed his fingers together experimentally, stimulating that wall, and Sollux gave a strangled cry as a jolt of pleasure went through him.

He felt his cocks flushing with blood, unfurling out from under his protective bone bulge and standing up stiffly against Eridan's stomach as the aquatic troll stimulated him.

Sollux squirmed helplessly, hating this, hating himself. How weak was he to have wound up in this situation, clinging and panting to a troll he hated with every fibre of his being and who he couldn't even _hurt_. This was no kismesis relationship, it was something twisted, perverted and wrong, and that only made him hate himself even more.

He had allowed Eridan to best him completely, and he didn't even care enough to take the damn collar off and end it. He was _letting_ this happen, because he was willing to give Eridan this, to give up his freedom and his dignity, for release from the torment of his psychic powers.

"Not so bad, is it?" Eridan murmured, lips against Sollux' ear again. Sollux whimpered, clinging to him as he moved, fingers still buried deep inside. "You really gonna try to tell me you don't fuckin' lovve this?"

Sollux closed his eyes and shook his head, burying his face against Eridan's neck. "Fuck you," he whispered. "You're thuch a fucking thcumbag."

Eridan laughed and let go of Sollux with his other hand, making the smaller troll cling all the tighter. He felt like he was hanging from a cliff and the only person who could keep him from falling was Eridan. He just needed to hang on tight and take what Eridan chose to do to him, because if he let go he'd fall.

Then Eridan's fingers curled around his cocks and began to stroke. They shifted against one another as his hand moved up and down through the water, and Sollux keened in the back of his throat with pleasure.

"This 'thcumbag' is sure gonna fuck you. And you're gonna thank me for it later," Eridan promised, and nipped hard at Sollux' earlobe. As the bright star of pain mixed with the pleasure, Sollux cried out and bucked against Eridan, and at that moment Eridan's own cock pushed hard into one of Sollux' nooks.

Sollux screamed as the tight passage stretched to accommodate Eridan. He was smaller than normal, his body slight and his nook divided in two, so for a moment he felt like he might split apart. Eridan groaned and his hand stuttered on Sollux' members. They sank a few inches into the water, and Sollux cried out and sputtered again, water lapping up and into his mouth.

Suddenly his back hit a solid surface hard, driving Eridan even deeper into him. At first he didn't know what had happened, but then Eridan's hand shot past his face and grabbed the edge of the pool, pushing them both up a few more inches out of the water.

There was no thought of escape, though, and no chance that he could have extricated himself, even if he had wanted to in that moment. His vision whited out as Eridan began to thrust into him, hand stroking his cocks hard and fast, and the other hand bracing them both against the edge so Sollux' face didn't drop below the surface of the water.

Sollux scratched and scrabbled at Eridan's back, claws scoring through wet fabric to skin underneath. The two trolls snarled and snapped at one another, and cried out in pleasure. Sollux felt his own teeth sink deep into Eridan's shoulder and tasted blood, and Eridan gave a soft grunt and a shudder.

Hot fluid shot into Sollux' nook, and that was all it took for Sollux' own shattered control to end. Yellowish genetic material blossomed between them in the water, quickly dissipating and drawn away along with the blood that dripped from them both in tiny rivulets.

Eridan sagged for a moment, face pressed to Sollux' throat and his breathing harsh and rapid. Sollux was no better off and dropped his head back to the floor, eyes closed and his body and mind utterly spent.

"I can't believe you jutht did that," he muttered softly.

"The proper address is 'thank you, sir'," Eridan growled against his neck.

"Give me a break," Sollux moaned, covering his eyes with his arm. "You don't really want me to call you 'thir' do you? How thtupid will that thound? Thir, thir, thir. Yeth thir, no thir, can I polish your bulge thir? Fuck you."

Eridan was silent for a moment. "Well," he sniffed. "Fine, you're right, I guess."

Sollux sighed softly, and Eridan straightened, slipping out of him. He felt sore down there, and grimaced as he tried to turn himself around and boost himself out of the water. Instead he found himself pinned again, this time with the edge of the pool digging into his chest and Eridan's arms around him.

"Wwe're stayin' here for a bit," Eridan muttered against his back. "You're mine noww, and you better not fuckin' forget it."

Sollux groaned and dropped back down until his own head was resting against the floor. The water was warm and oddly pleasant now that he was getting used to it. And the silence. The blessed silence.

"Thankth," he murmured. "No matter why you did it."

Eridan didn't say anything at first, but Sollux felt him smile. "You're wwelcome, Sol," he thought he heard, but it was a little too quiet to make out.

Probably just as well.


End file.
